Many people believe that working out is all about having fancy equipment or access to an expensive gym. However, the reality is that a great workout can be done at any place and at any time, as long as you have the discipline and motivation to get to it. With that said, for beginners, it’s typically difficult to build a routine that doesn’t involve the gym or that isn’t something they can look up online.
The difficulty amplifies if you have to do the workout in a dorm room or in another place that multiple people are sharing with you.
In order to make things easier and to give all your college students an easy, quick, and simple workout, we’ve come up with this article.
In the next paragraphs, you will get a short but comprehensive introduction to a dorm room training session – what are the exercises that you can do, what equipment you need, and how much time you should spend on it. And so, without further ado, let’s get started.
The Perfect Dorm Room Workout: Exercises and Equipment
A dorm room might not sound like the perfect spot for working out, but you can always turn it into one. Typically, one of the issues that college students face is the lack of space – after all, when you’re sharing a space with multiple people, you don’t have that much free space to move around, and that’s without mentioning that dorm rooms aren’t known for being huge.
The second issue is the noise – even though most dorms are pretty loud, you still want to avoid waking all the neighbors and your dorm mates with your burpee workout at seven in the morning. Thankfully, with the help of our tips, you will tackle both of these issues quickly, so keep on reading.
The Required Equipment
We already mentioned that the space you have in a dorm is limited, which means you can’t buy fancy gym equipment such as barbells or weight plates for cable machines. Instead, you have to get settled with the basics – dumbbells and kettlebells. Now, you can just choose one of the two options, and we’ll stick with it.
Typically, dumbbells are the better option for more bodybuilder-like exercises, and kettlebells are much more suitable for functional training, so you should pick one depending on what kind of workouts you’re more likely to do. In addition to that, it’s a good idea to get a high-quality exercise mat and some resistance bands.
The mat will ensure you have something clean and soft to lay on when doing your stretches or in case you want to do yoga, and the resistance bands always come in handy when you want to make a particular exercise more challenging.
All of these pieces of equipment don’t take up too much space and can easily be stored under your bed or in your closet, so you don’t have to worry about how to fit them in. Additionally, they’re more than enough for getting a great workout in, and if you don’t believe us, then just wait til the next paragraph.
Simple Exercises for Your Dorm Room Workout
In order to get your muscles burning and your heart rate up, you don’t really need a bunch of complicated moves or any particular machines. If you stick to the basics and you perform them correctly, you will see great results, even if you work out in the confines of a small dorm room. The list of exercises you will see below is only an example, and you can continually expand as you learn more and your body adapts to the movement, so just keep that in mind.
Leg Exercises:
- Squats: a fundamental leg exercise that uses all the muscles in the lower body. You can perform them with resistance bands, with a dumbbell or kettlebell, or just with your body weight.
- Lunges: The same goes for the lunges; they can be done with weights or with your body weight. You can try the forward lunge or backward lunge variation, which will surely have you gasping for breath.
- Hip thrust: another exercise that targets the lower body, doesn’t require a ton of space, and is highly effective. Additionally, the many variations will ensure you’re never bored during your training.
Upper Body Exercises:
- Push-ups: a fundamental upper body exercise that trains the arms and the chest, engages the core, and has you sweating in seconds.
- Rows: a great exercise for your back that can be done with a resistance band, with kettlebells, or with dumbbells. It’s challenging and a terrific way to develop strength in the upper body.
- Shoulder press: an essential exercise for working the shoulder muscles, which can be done with a band, dumbbell, or kettlebell, with all three variations presenting a unique challenge.
Core:
- Plank: a must-do exercise for developing core strength and endurance that can be done in several variations, depending on your fitness level.
- Leg lifts are a terrific way to target the lower part of your abs, which can also be done in a plethora of ways.
- Russian twists: an exercise that’s essential for developing rotational strength and for targeting the entire core.
You can create an effective, full-body workout by choosing two exercises out of each category. Remember that as you go on, you can always add more exercises so that it remains challenging for you. And suppose you stick to repeating the circuit for three to four rounds. In that case, you’re bound to get a training session that will challenge your muscles and your endurance, all while staying inside your dorm room and not having to spend hundreds of dollars on gym memberships or fancy equipment.
In Conclusion
If you were looking for some fitness inspiration, this article showed you that working out in a dorm is possible and actually relatively easy to do. Of course, if you have any suggestions for essential equipment or exercises, we’d love to hear from you in the comment section.